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Banned or challenged books through the ages

Through the ages many books, some now celebrated as literary works of art, have been challenged and even banned. While banned is self explanatory, a definition of "challenged" is worth better understanding. According to the American Library Association, a challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. A few of the more well know books to either be banned or challenged follow.

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939

A classic novel now frequently assigned as required reading for students, Steinbeck’s novel was first banned in 1939 in California. Objections to profanity and sexual references continued from then into the 1990s. It is a work with international banning appeal: the book was barred in Ireland in the 50s and a group of booksellers in Turkey were taken to court for “spreading propaganda” in 1973.

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, 1951

This novel is included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has also frequently been challenged in the United States and other countries for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1940

The story follows Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. The U.S. Post Office, which purpose was in part to monitor and censor distribution of media and texts, declared the book non-mailable shortly after it was published.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884

The American edition in 1885 was promptly banned by several libraries. The criticism was based in a perception of the books crudeness. The book has since been challenged several more time through the years.

The Call of the Wild, Jack London, 1903

This classic work of American literature is on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most-frequently challenged classics at #33. Sometimes misclassified as children’s literature, the novel carries a dark tone, and the mature concepts explored in the story contain numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. Not only have objections been raised here, the book was banned in Italy, Yugoslavia and burned in bonfires in Nazi Germany in the late 1920s and early 30s because it was considered “too radical.”

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X and Alex Haley, 1965

Since being published, this autobiography has been attacked by censors for the portrayal of Malcolm X's criminal life prior to his work as a Civil Rights leader and for the black nationalist rhetoric that criticized white society. Municipal and education authorities worked to ban the book throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Ulysses, James Joyce, 1918

In 1922, the U.S. Department of the Post Office burned 500 copies of the novel when an attempt was made to import the book and court decisions ruled against the book. In 1932, U.S. customs seized a copy and declared it "obscene," resulting in a court battle. Ultimately, the judge decided Ulysses was not "pornographic."

Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987

This Pulitzer-prize winning novel, by one of the most influential African-American writer of all time, has regularly come come under fire from parental complaints because of its violence, sexual content and discussion of bestiality.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961

A school board in Strongsville, OH refused to allow the book to be taught in high school English classrooms in 1972. It also refused to consider Cat’s Cradle as a substitute text and removed both books from the school library. The issue eventually led to a 1976 District Court ruling overturning the ban in Minarcini v. Strongsville.

Moby-Dick, Herman Melville,1851

A Texas school district banned the book from its Advanced English class lists because it “conflicted with their community values” in 1996. "Community values" are a common refrain for those attempting to censor books.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, 1953

Venado Middle school in Irvine, CA, rather than ban the book outright utilized, the school used a version of the text in which all the “hells” and “damns” were blacked out. Other complaints have said the book went against objectors religious beliefs.

Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936

The Pulitzer-prize winning novel, perhaps better know as an Academy-Award winning film, was alternatively challenged and banned for its realistic depiction of post Civil War life in the South.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

Perhaps one of the better known "great American novel", this book chronicles the decadent lives of East Hampton socialites. It was challenged at the Baptist College in South Carolina because of the book’s language and mere references to sex.

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, 1906

This novel provides students with a view of muckraking and yellow journalism during the industrial revolution. While used as an education source to this day, the perceived socialist views expressed in the book lead to bans in Yugoslavia, East Germany and South Korea.

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850

Morale outrage about the behavior of the main character Hester Prynne, a name known to anyone who passed English Literature in high school, has lead to bans of this novel virtually since it was published. Parents in one school district called the book “pornographic and obscene” in 1977.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

For some educators, the Pulitzer-prize winning book is one of the greatest texts teens can study in an American literature class. Others have called it a degrading, profane and racist work that “promotes white supremacy.” A local school district in Louisiana recently began enforcing a decade old ban on the book.

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, 1952

This children's classic, the 78th on the best selling hardcover list, has been a staple of homes across the world for years. Somehow it made its way onto the American Library Association's frequently challenged list. The reason, some parents in a Kansas school district in 2006 decided that talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural. Elements from the story about the spider dying were also criticized as being ‘inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book.’

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, 1963

Psychologists Bruno Bettelheim condemn it as ‘too dark and frightening’ for young children in a March, 1969 column for Ladies’ Home Journal. He thought the idea that a mother would deprive a child of food was an inappropriate form of punishment, and that it would traumatize young readers. Thus, it was banned heavily in the American South, and by libraries nationwide in the first years of its release.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1945

The series has been banned, challenged, or otherwise censured by groups or organizations since publication. As recently as 2001 in Alamagordo, NM, outside Christ Community Church, the novel was burned as satanic.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852

In the South, in the context of the current times, the book was met with outrage and branded an irresponsible book of distortions and overstatements.

The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane, 1895

Crane’s book was among many on a list compiled by the Florida Bay District School board in 1986 after parents began lodging informal complaints about books in a classroom library.

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 1966

Banned for a short time in Savanna, Georgia, after a parent complained about sex, violence, and profanity.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck, 1937

The novel appears on the American Library Association’s “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. Most of the complaints have to do with the “offensive” and “obscene language.

The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, 1991

The Prince of Tides was challenged by a student in an advanced placement literature class. She found the book "offensive", mentioning a graphic rape scene as just one of the things she objected to.

Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1945

In 1963 the John Birch Society had challenged the novel's use on the grounds that it objected to the words "masses will revolt." In 1968, the New York State English Council's Committee on Defense Against Censorship identified the novel on its list of "problem books", stating that "Orwell was a communist."

Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence, 1928

In 1929 the United States government declared the novel “obscene” and the post office barred the novel from being mailed.

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, 1969

Slaughterhouse-Five is the sixty-seventh entry to the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999. The subject of many attempts at censorship, due to its irreverent tone and purportedly obscene content, a circuit judge banned it in 1972. The ban has since been reversed.

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